before you can say Jack Robinson

短语

说时迟,那时快;转瞬间,很快

别名

before you can say Jack Robertson

释义与例句

phr.
  1. 1.

    Very quickly; quicker than one expects.

    You have to be careful in that area. They'll have your wallet before you can say Jack Robinson.

词源

Uncertain. There is some speculation that this is a reference to Sir John Robinson, the Lieutenant of the Tower of London from 1660 to 1680 and Lord Mayor of London in 1662, but there is nothing known about him that is associated with speed (Samuel Pepys called him as “a talking bragging bufflehead.”), and the phrase does not appear in print until 1778.

来源：wiktionary